2015 has been deadly in the construction sector with 11 construction site fatalities in New York City's past fiscal year, according to data compiled by the City of New York. This does not include the three devastating fatalities in the last two months that all occurred on construction worksites not up to code or lacking safety equipment, according to numerous complaints filed to the City.
That deadly sum exceeds New York City construction fatalities in all recent years and is up 83 percent over FY2014 and 120 percent since FY2013 (the city's fiscal calendar runs July 1 - June 30), representing the highest total since the current construction expansion began in 2008. While construction is a huge economic engine for New York City, it accounts for less than 4 percent of all New York State employment, yet an astounding 20 percent of all of the state's on-the-job deaths.
What's more, the Mayor's Management Report has identified that with hundreds of serious construction related accidents, injuries increased 34 percent in FY 2015, up 51 percent from both FY2013 and FY2012. So what is the cause of this and how can it be rectified?
Two trends are leading the increase. One is the obvious surge of new construction New York City has encountered, as the Department of Buildings issued 52,618 residential building permits in FY2015, up 156 percent from FY2014 and up a staggering 749 percent from FY2010.
The second is that data from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) shows that nonunion worksites also accounted for 75 percent of construction fatalities in 2014 and 72 percent between 2012-2013.
9 comments:
Decisions by our previous mayor* fast tracking zoning applications for building "projects" and by our current one's zeal to perpetuate the fraud of his affordable housing plan, in addition to promote density and the lack of oversight and vetting of contractors to build these doesn't require workers to earn a living wage with the enabling of a spineless, immoral and corrupt D.O.B. is the underlying cause for these preventable tragedies.
* http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/16/nyregion/going-out-with-building-boom-mayor-pushes-billions-in-projects.html?_r=0
How many more bodies is it going to take to enrich these predatory developers and these hedge fund brats?
I’m not saying let’s go kill all the stupid people… I’m just saying let’s remove all the warning labels and let the problem sort itself out.
Hey, it could help with the overcrowding problem...
Every construction site I walk by now is filled with illegal immigrant workers. Management has no regard for safety. The workers are clueless just trying to make a buck. Unions have been dissolved and this is the result. People need to wake up. Unions are an amazing thing. I just wish that Unions would get out in the media and market themselves as an entity. Educate people on what they truly are. People hate unions for some reason because they have no clue that most of the benefits of their own jobs are a result of Unions.
Totally agree with the Union talk. Unions require to train & work in a safely manner, among other things. Companies really do not like this obviously, nor do the politicians for some strange reason(sarcasm). Unions really should get out to the media, it is a shame. Everyday walking to work, i see construction workers in the street using huge equipment and wearing no safety glasses. Really is terrible, money before health.
DOB...department of bumblers....department of bribery...is partially responsible.
Yep...the buck talks and the building inspectors walk.
And we have a mayor that's tied to his wife's apron strings. The First Lady is calling the affordable housing initiative, otherwise Bill is banned from the bedroom.
Combine a mania to develop every site in NYC, non-existent oversight, cheap illegal labor, and complete control of NYC by real estate interests and you get this. It will get worse.
Cheap labor? Not really. Day workers will no longer work for $80.00 a day. The going rate is $150.00 - $300.00. A good bricklayer will be more likely to get $300.00 a day. Workers shoveling dirt; clean-up etc. get a minimum of $150.00.
Some of them command lunch; and some of them command transportation.
Tax free.
For that they will work on unsafe scaffolding; inhale all kinds of chemicals & dust; do electric and plumbing and other construction tasks that are illegal for them to do.
It is called "the invisible hand" of economics.
Again something not taught today, but our founding fathers learned, experienced, knew, spoke, and wrote of it.
The price is what the market will bear. Economics 101.
Traditional economics is no longer taught either.
Someday they will heap all of this Kensian economic theories into the dustbin of history.
You cannot get out of tough economic times by printing money, physical or electronically.
Can you say quantitative easing and ZERO interest?
But rest assured, the bubble will burst!
And it will be bigger than "too big to fail"
There will be no fixing it, a total reset.
Hope you are ready...
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